The Chaos Engine goes 3D in Doomsday Machine, a mod for Doom!

by Alec Foster ·
Published November 27, 2018
· Updated November 27, 2018

Ever wondered what The Chaos Engine, one of the best 2D shooters for the Commodore Amiga, would look like in 3D?

Well, you need wonder no longer, thanks to the creation of Doomsday Machine, a modification developed for id Software’s seminal Doom FPS. We spotted the mod on one of Amiga Bill’s most recent live streams, so we just had to download the game and check it out!

The mod is the handiwork of Cherno, a member of the ZDoom forum, who recently posted the early preview build of the mod online for fans to download, and eager to see what a 3D (well, 2.5D) incarnation of one of the best-loved Amiga games might look like, we fired up the game using a copy of GZDoom and took the mod for a spin.

The proof-of-concept build includes three of the six mercenaries to choose from: the Brigand, Navvie and Preacher. Each character features their own set of stats (e.g. health), unique signature weapon and special power.

The mod currently features just two levels from World 1 of the original game, each of which has been recreated in 3D.

Just as before, the objective of each stage is to locate and activate a series of ‘nodes’ by shooting them with your weapon, all the while dealing with the various monstrosities and mutations created as a result of the Chaos Engine’s corrupting influence. Both levels are, as far as we can tell, complete in terms of items, enemy positions, and even secret locations, and our inner nerd got a little bit excited when we recognised locations from the 2D original.

Part of the original game’s appeal was down to artist Dan Malone’s fantastic artwork, which looks surprisingly good when mapped on to 3D shapes. Credit must go to Cherno for translating the two-dimensional enemy designs and other assets into 3D; no easy task when the top-down perspective of the original would have obscured these details. The overall result is something which, for one reason or another, felt strangely reminiscent of Minecraft (sans crafting), and while we’re not entirely convinced that we’d actually want to play an entire game of The Chaos Engine in 3D, there’s no denying that this is the epitome of cool!

It’s unlikely that we’ll ever get to see the entire game recreated in full, however. Cherno has already stated that it’s uncertain as to whether he’ll bother creating any more levels for the conversion, unsurprising given the amount of time even this proof-of-concept must have taken to put together.

If nothing else, this mod proves to be a clever, yet wonderfully silly experiment, and you can grab yourself a copy of the mod download here.